Saturday, May 01, 2004

Rep. McDermott Forgot 'Under God', Civil Rights Act

"Rep. Jim McDermott, D-WA, explained yesterday that he had omitted the words 'under God' while leading House colleagues in the Pledge of Allegiance because he had learned the Pledge before 1954 when the phrase was inserted by an act of Congress.

Later, a spokesman confirmed that Mr. McDermott also often forgets about the 1964 Civil Rights Act, because when he was in grade school it was still legal to discriminate on the basis of race."